Translation
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Epistles of Ignatius
Chapter II.--Do not save me from martyrdom.
For it is not my desire to act towards you as a man-pleaser, 1 but as pleasing God, even as also ye please Him. For neither shall I ever have such [another] opportunity of attaining to God; nor will ye, if ye shall now be silent, ever be entitled to 2 the honour of a better work. For if ye are silent concerning me, I shall become God's; but if you show your love to my flesh, I shall again have to run my race. Pray, then, do not seek to confer any greater favour upon me than that I be sacrificed to God while the altar is still prepared; that, being gathered together in love, ye may sing praise to the Father, through Christ Jesus, that God has deemed me, the bishop of Syria, worthy to be sent for 3 from the east unto the west. It is good to set from the world unto God, that I may rise again to Him.
For it is not my desire that ye should please men, but God, even as also ye do please Him. For neither shall I ever hereafter have such an opportunity of attaining to God; nor will ye, if ye shall now be silent, ever be entitled to 4 the honour of a better work. For if ye are silent concerning me, I shall become God's; but if ye show your love to my flesh, I shall again have to run my race. Pray, then, do not seek to confer any greater favour upon me than that I be sacrificed to God, while the altar is still prepared; that, being gathered together in love, ye may sing praise to the Father, through Christ Jesus, that God has deemed me, the bishop of Syria, worthy to be sent for 5 from the east unto the west, and to become a martyr 6 in behalf of His own precious 7 sufferings, so as to pass from the world to God, that I may rise again unto Him.
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Some translate as in longer recension, but there is in the one case humin, and in the other humas. ↩
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Literally, "have to be inscribed to." ↩
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Literally, "to be found and sent for." ↩
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Literally, "have to be inscribed to." ↩
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Literally, "to be found and sent for." ↩
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The text is here in great confusion. ↩
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Literally, "beautiful." Some read, "it is good," etc. ↩
Translation
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Die sieben Briefe des Ignatius von Antiochien (BKV)
2. Kap. Die römische Kirche soll sein Martyrium nicht verhindern.
1. Denn mein Wunsch ist es, dass ihr nicht den Menschen, sondern Gott gefallt, wie ihr ihm auch wohlgefällig seid. Denn weder werde ich nochmals eine solche Gelegenheit, zu Gott zu kommen, finden, noch werdet ihr, wenn ihr schweiget, auf bessere Werke euren Namen setzen können1. Denn wenn ihr von mir schweiget, bin ich Gottes Wort2; wenn ihr aber mein (Leben im) Fleisch liebet, werde ich wieder bloß ein (leerer) Schall sein. 2. Erweiset mir damit den größten Gefallen, dass ich Gott geopfert werde, solange der Altar noch bereit steht, auf dass ihr in Liebe einen Chor bildet und dem Vater lobsinget in Christus Jesus, weil Gott den Bischof von Syrien zu finden sich gewürdigt hat und ihn vom Osten nach dem Westen sich herbeigeholt hat. Es ist schön, von der Welt unterzugehen zu Gott, damit ich bei ihm auferstehe.